


The One Who Got Away

by ImaginAria



Category: Hall Pa$$, Thornville High
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginAria/pseuds/ImaginAria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reason why Swag isn't in Promise Me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One Who Got Away

**Author's Note:**

> Technically a Part 2 of 3.

It was a week after Rocky's funeral, and One and Bitter were sitting across the table from each other eating breakfast.  
Bitter was specifically not looking at One's face—he hadn't said much since they got back from the funeral and One knew him well enough to tell that something—something heavy—was on his mind. But he also knew not to ask Bitter about it until the other was well and ready or else all he'd get was passive aggressive answers with no real information.  
“One...?” He looked up to see Bitter's worried face.  
“What is it?”  
“Maybe...maybe since Rocky's gone now too...sh*t One, maybe it's time to talk about Swag again.”

They'd found Swag's car on the side of the road between his job and their place. The doors were thrown open and the keys were in the ignition. The detectives said there were “Signs of a struggle” and that implied that Swag had been kidnapped. They were expecting a ransom call, which Bitter and One just stared at since everybody knew that Swag's family had kicked him out and cut him off without a single penny and the three of them were just barely making it by.  
But either way the two of them sat by the phone constantly, waiting for a call from the police or from anybody else about what was going on.  
The call never came.  
And after a week, Bitter had to go back to school or he was going to fail out and One had to go back to work or they weren't going to be able to pay the rent. But every evening he would listen to all the messages, and hope that there was something there.  
Spook and Rocky called, offered to come over. One wasn't even sure how they'd found out, but he didn't bother calling back, just wrote his friends a polite email that said that he and Bitter were okay. Of course, that was an instant red flag for them anyways and he wasn't really that surprised when they turned up on the doorstep a few days later to “Help out the third member of our trio, obviously! Spook Squad sticks together” as Rocky had said. And although One didn't really thank them, he did appreciate their presence.  
Bitter, on the other hand, disappeared into the woodwork a bit, staying at school until the middle of the night, right up until the three of them kidnapped him from the library one evening and forced him to go out to dinner with the threat that it would keep happening unless he came home more.  
It was a good thing that Rocky and Spook were there when the police informed them all that the case was being declared cold and closed. The four of them piled onto the couch and just stared at the television all night long while One and Bitter tried to come to terms with what they were being told: the police assumed that Swag was dead and unless new evidence came to light, that was how it was going to be.  
Spook and Rocky ended up staying a full extra week longer than they'd intended, but eventually they had to get back to their lives: “Seriously, we're like, touring and stuff,” Rocky grinned, “We'll make sure to come by again though. Have to schedule a concert here just for you dweebs.”  
Swag's room was shut up, exactly as it had been, and the key was hung up on a nail over it. The nickname he'd always called Bitter, Butts, was dropped. After awhile, they didn't talk about it anymore and his name was silently agreed to be unspoken.  
One and Bitter didn't give up though. One spent hours going over similar cases. Bitter was working on a degree in computer science, and had a couple of friends from school who were rather accomplished hackers and they kept looking.  
They kept looking for years. 

“So, there, I thought about it. Are you happy now?”  
Bitter could only hold his gaze for a second before he sighed and looked away, “If that's how you want to be about it...”  
“I miss him.” One says quietly, and he's not sure why that came out now, but Bitter blinks and looks back at One. “I miss him so much. Every single day I wake up and expect him to be there, even after 4 years. But he never will, and every single day I have to come to terms with that. I see him in everyone. How he walked, how he talked, his weirdly cute little hair flip thing. I keep thinking it's him even as I know that it never EVER will be.”  
Bitter doesn't say anything to that because there isn't anything to say. He just reaches his hand across the table and takes One's.  
They're both broken but at least they have each other.


End file.
